Pensioner critical, shot for witnessing neighbour’s murder

DEAD END: Police and soldiers stand near the body of Kirwin Williams who was shot dead on Wednesday afternoon outside his Laventille home. Williams’ elderly neighbour was also shot.

Dead men, the saying goes, tell no tales. With this in mind, five gunmen who gunned down a Laventille man on Wednesday afternoon, turned their weapons on the victim’s elderly neighbour, shooting him several times and leaving him now warded in a critical condition.

According to reports, at about 5 pm, 71-year-old pensioner Melville Rawlins was standing in front of his Upper Wharton Street Extension, Laventille home looking on as his neighbour Kirwin Williams mixed some concrete. The gunmen ran up to Williams and shot the 38-year-old man repeatedly, killing him on the spot.

The gunmen, seeing Rawlins looking at them, turned and opened fire, hitting him in the arms and chest before running off. Residents who heard the gunshots, ran to the elderly man’s aid and he was taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital where he was treated and remains warded.

Police who were called in, cordoned off the area where Williams’ body lay on the road. Nearby, children - some still in school uniform - sat outside a building and looked on as the district medical officer Dr Balkaran examined the body which was later removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for autopsy.

An eyewitness later told police that when the shots rang out, she saw Williams on the road while the gunmen stood over him and continued shooting.

Seconds later, Rawlins was shot. The murder toll up to press time stood at 343 for the year. No arrest has been made in the murder of Williams. Investigations are continuing.